It's Never Too Late

Jack LaLanne died Sunday at 96. It seemed he would never leave us, but mortality cast it's shadow once again over another much loved American hero.

Ever since I was a kid, Jack was an intimidating presence on TV. His message was simple, and I find it to be true in every aspect of life, most importantly, the spiritual: Remember, it's never too late. He was a celebrity who was the real-deal. He was in the fitness business to not only improve his own well-being, but teach Americans to eat right and get off their duffs and start moving. "The only way you can hurt the body is not use it," LaLanne once said. "Inactivity is the killer."

I had an elderly next-door neighbor named Frank Park who, until he died, never wore a shirt and always challenged the boys on our block to hit him in his tanned, leather-like stomach as hard as we could. He never flinched. Later in life I learned that Houdini made the same challenge and his fate was sealed when repeated hits to the abdomen by college student, J. Gordon Whitehead, cost him his life after peritonitis set in from a ruptured appendix on Halloween, 1926. My pal Frank, seemingly indestructible, fell off his back porch one day, bumped his head, and died shortly after. Another one of my heroes was gone.

Today, I do well to heed Jack LaLanne's challenge to keep moving. The well-being of America is at stake even more today with obesity at it's highest level in history. Even though our heroes are mortal, the words Jack LaLanne left with us are immortal. We can start fresh today with a new life. Remember, it's never too late.